Native Son :: essays research papers

Character Actions Defines Their Individual Personalities and article of faith Systems     Richard Wrights novel, native-born Son, consisted of several(a) main and supporting characters to deliver an effective rove of personalities and expression. Each characters action defines their individual personalities and belief systems. The main character of Native Son, bigger Thomas has personality traits spanning various aspects of human nature including actions make by fear, quick temper, and a high degree of intelligence.     Bigger, whom the novel revolves around, portrays various personality elements through his actions. Many of his actions suggest an overriding response to fear, which stems from his ikon to a harsh social climate in which a fire line between acceptable mien for whites and blacks exists. His swift anger and his hurtful cravings stem from that fear and become apparent in the opening moving-picture show when he fiercely a ttacks a huge rat. The same murderous impulse appears when his secret dread of the delicatessen robbery impels him to commit a venomous assault on his friend Gus. Bigger commits both of the brutal murders not in rage or anger, but as a response to fear. His typical fear stems from being caught in the act of doing something socially impossible and being the subject of punishment. Although he later admits to Max that Mary Daltons behavior toward him made him hate her, it is not hate which causes him to smother her to death, but a feeble attempt to evade the detection of her mother. The fear of being caught with a white woman overwhelmed his common sense and dictated his actions. When he move to murder Bessie, his motivation came from intense fear of the consequences of 2"letting" her live. Bigger realized that he could not take Bessie with him or leave her slow and concluded that killing her could provide her only "merciful" end.      The emoti onal forces that exact Bigger are conveyed by means other than his words. Besides reactions to fear, his actions edge an extremely quick temper and destructive impulse as an full part of his nature. Rage plays a key part in his grassroots nature, but does not directly motivate the murders he commits. Rage does not affect Biggers intelligence and quick thinking and it becomes evident during the interview with Briton. The research worker makes Bigger so angry that the interrogation becomes a game to Bigger, a game of logic and wills, of playing the stupid negro, and telling the man but what he wants to hear.